Residential & General Electrical
Generator Installation
Transfer switches and standby wiring that keep utility power and generator power strictly apart.
Generator Installation — what's involved
The electrical half of a generator installation is the transfer switch, and it exists for one reason: to make it physically impossible for generator power and utility power to be connected at the same time. Without one, a generator backfeeds your service and energizes the utility line outside — which is a genuine danger to line workers and to anyone near the drop. Backfeeding through a dryer outlet with a double-male cord is the practice this equipment is designed to eliminate.
Electric Shock wires both ends of the range: a permanently installed standby generator with an automatic transfer switch that starts on its own when the utility fails, and the simpler arrangement of an inlet box with a panel interlock kit for a portable generator you roll out and start yourself. Which one is right depends on how long your outages last and how much of the house you need running.
Generator Installation
Photos of this work will appear here as jobs are documented.
Generator electrical work
- Automatic transfer switches for permanently installed standby generators
- Manual transfer switches and panel interlock kits for portable generators
- Generator inlet boxes, and the feeder from the inlet to the panel
- Emergency sub-panels carrying only the circuits you want backed up
- Whole-house transfer with load management, where the generator cannot carry everything at once
- Grounding, bonding and neutral configuration appropriate to a separately derived system
The Generator Installation process
Decide what needs to stay on
Furnace, well pump, refrigerator, sump pump and a few circuits is a very different generator from a whole house with air conditioning. This decision sets the size and the cost of everything else.
Choose the transfer arrangement
Automatic if outages are frequent or you are away; a manual switch or interlock if a portable unit and a few minutes of effort are acceptable. We will give you the honest trade-off rather than the larger sale.
Coordinate the non-electrical trades
Standby units need a pad and, for gas models, a fuel connection sized by the plumber or gas fitter. We sequence with them so the set is ready when the wiring is.
Install, bond and configure
Transfer equipment installed, feeders run, and neutral bonding configured correctly for the type of transfer switch — a detail that is quietly critical and frequently got wrong.
Test under real transfer
We simulate a utility failure and confirm the changeover, the load and the return to utility power, then walk you through operating it.
What you get out of it
No backfeed, ever
A listed transfer switch mechanically prevents the two sources from meeting. That is the entire point, and it is not optional.
Sized to what you need
Backing up eight circuits rather than the whole house is often a far better value, and it is a decision worth making deliberately.
Tested before you need it
A generator that has never been transferred under load is an assumption. We verify it works.
Generator Installation questions
Still not sure? Send us the details and we'll give you a straight answer before anything is booked.
Can I just plug a generator into a dryer outlet?
What is the difference between an interlock and a transfer switch?
Do I need a permit for a generator?
Often booked alongside this
- Electrical Panel UpgradesSwap a crowded, fused or obsolete panel for a modern breaker panel with room to grow.
- Whole-Home Surge ProtectionType 2 surge protective devices at the panel, protecting hardwired equipment power strips can't.
- Sub-Panel InstallationFeed a garage, addition, shop or basement from its own sub-panel instead of a dozen long home runs.
Need Generator Installation?
Tell us about the property and what you're trying to achieve. Quotes are free and there's no obligation.
Start with a free quote
Pick Generator Installation from the service list below and tell us what you need. Photographs of the panel, the room or the equipment help us answer far more precisely.